This is going to show my age!! (21, before you ask!!)

What's the view on using imperial measurements in current pieces of fiction? I find it hard to think naturally (yes, thank you) in metres. It's always yards and miles that come to mind.

And, come to mention it, kilos just confuse me, and the only time I get anywhere near understanding litres is when I fill the car up! And only then because I have this four-and-a-half conversion factor. (Now, is it multiply or divide?)

So, in my currnt work (okay, no adverts) can I, should I, use miles, yards and inches? Or do I have to get my slide-rule out and go metric?

John

John, maybe it depends whose POV it is in your story and whether they'd think in metric or Imperial. I can only speak for myself, but I can and do think in both to some extent, although I'm slightly happier in Imperial. If it's the narrative, and there's no particular POV at that part of the story, possibly metric would be better, as that's the official measurement taught in schools at the present time.

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But miles are OK aren't they? Don't we all still think in those?

John,

I share you dislike for all things metric. Some years ago I had to replace a small pane of glass, went to the glazier with the measurements in metric and he looked at me. "You know what?" he sneared "Your pane of glass will be almost as big as that wall!"

Anyway I agree with Nell.

Len

My boss was having a go at me when he found out that I use imperial weights when cooking (well, I have old-fashioned scales that only have imprial weights...)

I turned to him and said 'What weight are you?'

He shut up after that.

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Hmm - sorry I digressed a bit - I think it depends on teh character - if it was, say, someone in the building trade they would be using metric mainly - but I am fairly sure most would still use miles for distance and imperial measures for their personal height and weight.

Oh, isn't it horrible...

Just wait until we have to have all our characters paying for everything in Euros as well... :-S

Yes, depends very much on character... and on place. Asking for a pint of anything in mainland Europe is a bit like speaking Chaucerian English to a ten-year-old...

Good luck with it John

Huggs

Ralph

John, assuming you’re referring to Exit 21, I think you have to take your lead from the age, attitude, nationality and profession of your characters.

North America, for instance, still works completely in imperial measurements. In Britain we are in a state of flux. We think nothing of asking for a pint of beer and half a litre of water, three metres of fabric and a twelve inch zip.

I have a lovely memory of standing in a woodyard once, hearing a chippy asking for ‘eight metres of two by four.’

I think, in terms of driving and road distances, anyone brought up in this country would talk in miles so someone referring to kilometres here would reveal that they are not native…

Righto, I’m off for a litre of wine and a pound of chips…

ee.
x

why is it that 10 shillings always looked so much more than 50 pence

10 shillings? That's because the last time you saw a ten bob note the average weekly wage was five quid.

A little girl once showed me a threepenny bit (all those who remember them raise their zimmer frames now). She told me this was what people used for money in the olden days...

ee.

Hey, this is great!! But then what did I expect? Mind you, when Dee and olebut were talking currency I thought we were going to get the old 'sick squid' joke, but thankfully not!

So thanks for all the advice - and the little stories - I can always trust you lot to make me laugh.

Now then, what's 750 metres in real money?

John

I have this problem in my own writing, lol! Pretend you're American – they still use imperial measurements. Scary, eh?!! :-))))

just wait until we have to have all our characters paying for everything in euros as well

Well I have to say that Euros are in fact the handiest things ever! I mean, it was a bit sad to say good bye to the old Punt, and French Francs were rather pretty - but gosh travelling around Europe is now so EASY. No rates of exchange, no bureaux de change, it's great! (From an Irish perspective, anyway!)
Erm... otherwise I agree with the overall answer of "It depends". In schools, everything is taught entirely in metric measurements, so younger people tend to be pretty au fait with kilos and centimeters. However, they'd still use Imperial units in some cases - for example, to refer to a large distance ("That's MILES away!")or in situations where they're influenced by people at home - this is why they will still tell you their height in feet and their weight in stones. (The teachers do too, despite the textbooks!). I'll stop waffling now.

Shillings and ten-bobs? Pounds and yards?

Thanks all for making me feel young again. Much appreciated.

I just had my boat slipped this morning and was asked how long it was. Ten point six metres I answered the boatyard owner. The father of the lad running things nodded and looked at his son. ‘That’s about thirty six feet’ He told his father who looked at me and said. ‘We still charge in feet cos it works out more expensive if we use metres’
And this isn’t a joke.

Yes Hibernian, you're right.
Euros are great when it comes to travelling, until you want to travel from France to England... and then it's a case of banks making as much money as possible off the conversions before the Euro (finally!) gets forced into the UK. I feel well and truly robbed
The comment came from trying to set something I'm working on in the not too distant future, and wondering whether I should assume the conversion has taken place or not. And then it all gets very confusing... Will inflation get the better of the Euro? Will it be .75 for a loaf of bread or 3.10? And would readers be prepared to make adjustments in their head while the UK's still opperating in sterling?
Hmmm, it's all assuming I'd even get a look in with an agent prior to 2025 any way, so I guess it's hypothetical...

I think I'll just make all references to payment, distance etc. as oblique as possible, and see if I get away with it.

Hope you've found a solution to your dilemma John

All the best with it

Huggs

Ralph

Too true, Ralph - I was in London for New Year and dear god I nearly fell in a weakness when the credit card bill came in! We're all afraid of travelling to the UK now (but I won't be put off Edinburgh no matter what!)

Since Euros work the same way that pounds and pence do (that is, using a decimal system), hopefully your readers wouldn't feel the need to convert at all, if euros were introdced in an organic sort of way into the text. It would be much easier than having to think in shillings and half-crowns, for example! A book referencing dollars wouldn't make me want to convert back to euro in my head; I think I'd just accept the idea of dollars as the currency being used.
When Euros came in here, I think most people found it easiest just to start thinking in euros as quickly as possible with just the odd conversion from time to time so that we could all point out how badly we were being ripped off by the supermarkets! I don't know whether or not the UK is likely to convert in the near future (there seems to be a lot of opposition to it) but I know that even in Dublin (almost Europe's most expensive city, after Helsinki or somewhere) that 3.10 euro would be a HUGE loaf of bread!! Hmmm. Think I'm a bit peckish for sandwiches now...